Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

th e terrain and eve rything lik e that, I was just kind of sorting things ou t, getting used to how fast everything was. "The leaders got away from us a little bit," Blackwell added . " Pre tty much fro m the second lap on, after I was gettin g used to everything, pickin g good lin es, I wo rked my way to the front. I had so m e problem s in the m iddl e there... some problems with my gloves when it started raining rea l hard; I had to tak e my glove s off two consec u tive laps abo u t halfway aro u nd the course a n d gi ve ' em to th e check wo rkers. I cou ld n't hang on to the handlebars, they we re so mudd y and wet. I rod e one lap with no gloves at all, if you can imagin e that. I'm gonna sound like a whiner, bu t I burned my hand earlier in the week, so I had a big blister on my ha nd to begin with. "Ac tu a lly, I got a little bit of lu ck here and there, and I picked some good lines to stay out of the d eep rut s," Blackwell con tinued . "It worked out. I saw some guys buried up to the gas tanks ." What Blackwell forgot to mention wa s a minor course deviation in which h e w as in vo lved . Patri ck Garrah an rememb ered it well, though. " I w as up th ere with Bla ckwell , Plessing er a n d my brother," Patrick recalled , "a nd we were all dicing it ou t, ha ving a bunch o f fu n . I got b y both Blackw ell and Plessinger, but we all got lost We came d own to this one section, this hill, and there wa s a ribbon acr oss the tra il. 50 we were like, 'Should we go that way or go back up ?' 50 they started going s idewa ys. I tu rn ed a ro u n d and went back up, tried to see if we missed a tu rn o r so me th ing. Th at d ropped me back from second or third to ninth. 50 then I had to make up some time, so I . just started charging after that, ma king up ground. After that I just tried to ride sm art, not get stuck, not break my bike and just finish it." Lafferty cou ld n't hold his spot at .the front becau se he cou ld n't hol d on to his bike. "The third lap, my thr ottle grip started loosening up and spinning, so before I go t back to gas, I had three mo re guys go bou ncing by me," Lafferty sa id. "Blackwell and the two Garra hans went by me. I couldn't keep that pace to get back up to ' em. When I got gas, I got some zipties and sort of fixed the grip so I could at least ride wit h it, anyhow. I tried to make up time, but th at's wh en the ra in ju st started kicking in and making everything worse. It's hard to gain any ground with the lap pers and everything, the downhills and the rain especially." The final finishin g orde r wouldn't be determined until th e fi nal lap, with Brian Garrahan tossin g his 250 comfortab ly around the d eteriorati ng co u rse a nd building enough of a lead that he even had time to run ou t of gas, coerce another rid er into pro viding some fuel and s till w in . Blackwell sne a ked in to seco nd on the last lap , finishing a couple of minutes behind in 3:24:29. Pat rick Garrahan wanted to join his brother on the podium. "I was in fourth on the last lap , and I wanted to get top three, so I just went for it," Patri ck said. "I wasn't tired, I felt goo d, so I jus t went for it on the last lap . Luckily, I didn't run out gas. I was sort of thi nking about the possibility becau se we had a desert race a few weeks ago, and I ran out in 40 miles. I wa s sort of wo rried abo u t it, bu t I knew they .were going to be pretty short laps here; I figured I coul d make it. He (Brian) tu rn s the th rottle mo re, so he go es through gas a little quicker." Pat Garrahan s topped th e clocks at 3:25:56, the fina l rider to break 3:30. "In my mind, I had no doubts tha t I was going to win ," Brian Garrah an explained afterward. "Since the first of Brieflv..• No rthe rn Ca lifornia has alwa ys had plenty of talented racers, and perh aps nowhere else are the y as enthusiastic about simply rid ing motorcycles. After all, when was the last time you heard of a flat tracker riding a mud race like this? That's precisely what National number 70 John Hleb o III d id . And he certainl y can't be accused of sandba gging: He en tered th e AA class, fini sh in g ninth in l clas s, 11th overa ll. Motocrosser St eve Bonita took " Oth AA and 15th overa ll. . The saying that old age and treachery beat s you th and skill proved to be tru e, as three Vet-class racers beat all ·the younger A rid ers. Rob ert Hor ton finished an impressi ve eigh th ove ra ll, followed by Pe te J. Kru n ich and Kev in Yarn el l. Also, former ISDF. racer John H aaker easily beat all oth er Seniors wit h his 17th overall placing . Who came the farthest and d id the best? A sma ll band of New Zealanders can probably claim th ey traveled the farthest for their first Ame rican hare scramb les. Among them, Tony Rutter did the best; taking second 200cc A an d 19th overall: (The 200cc A'win, by the way, be longed to Luke McNeil from Massachusetts, also making his first appearance on the West Coast.) Luca Tru ssa rd i is fro m Italy, bu t he's been' livin g in the United States for .qu ite some lime . ' (Above) Early leader Mike Lafferty climbs out of a bike-swallowing rut en route to fourth place. (Above ri ght). Mark DeMarco exits the pits. (Right) The entrance to the MX section of the course deteriorated Into so me of the course's biggest ruts. the year, I got a pass to the gym, and I've been ge tt ing tw o da ys o ff work ev ery week. I've just been riding all the tim e, riding on weekend s. It's pre tty mu ch for my brother and me '- this is the year to mak e it or break it, so we're going to go ou t and take it, basicall y. It's p retty amazing. It's pretty much dedication and hard work, and this is what it turns out to be. This is what I've been trying to do for three or four or five years. Hopefully, I can go out next weekend an d win the next National, an d from there on ou t win the champions hip. "I'm goi ng to d o just the hare scramble s se ri e s, b ec ause I ca n' t do th e GNCCs ," he concluded. "They' re too far ba ck East ; I ju st d on't h av e e no ugh mon ey to do it, enou gh su pport." I~ Hollister Hills SVRA Hollister, Californ ia Results: February 1, 1998 (round 1 of 9) O /A : 1. Brian Garra han (KTM); 2. Doug DL 1Ckw l·1I (Yam); 3. Patrick Garrahan (KTM); 4. Michael Laff e rty (KTM); 5. Josh McLc v y (Han ); 6. Da ve Flasb ber ger (He n): 7. Lu ca Tr u ssar d i ( Ka w ); 8. Robe rt Ho rto n Hon); (KTM); 9. Sean Wilson (Suz ); 10. Pete J. Krunich C 11. john Hlebo III (H e n): 12. Kevin Yarnell (Hun); 13. Eric Koh ler (Yam); 14. [ohn M i\ S On (Yam ); 15. Steve Bonita (He n): 16. Cu rt Wilcox (Su x); 17. john Haak er (He n): 18. Luke McNeil (Yam); 19. Tony Rutter (KTM); 20. Ma rk Kerling (Su z). Upcoming Rounds: Round 2 - Wilseyville, California, February B Round 3 - Hurricane Mills. Tennessee. April 5 · wh ere I stand in all three series . I won a National end uro D oug Blackw ell offered this 'assessmen t of Californian · last year. I'v e been contemplating tryi ng that. series the racers: "I could just tell from some.of the other riders out last few years, but I never really go t into it. I th ink this is on the, track that it d oesn't rain mu ch here. Gu ys weren't the year. I'm gonna try to do what I can d o - wi thou t getd used toriding in the mud, and I'd like to consid er myself ting burne out, anyway. If I keep gelli ng good finishes, a decent mud ride r. I think tha t definitely played to my .\ d on't think burnout w ill be a problem . I've only go t one overall National win, and that's in the end uros. I' ve been advan tage." th e brid esma id m a n y ti mes, b ee n secon d p la ce in . . Loo k fo r Mike Lafferty to rid e more th an Na tio na l GN CCs before and now the Na tionals . I've just got one end uros th is ye a r: " Yo u know, I was looki ng a t th e .more notch to move up in those two series." . sched u le. There's these first two ha re scrambles in California ; there's one back east in Redding, Pen nsy lvania : One of the local favori tes - CCM racer Cole Ma rshall which is abo ut two hours fro m hom e; then there might didn't enjoy the best of days,unlike last year. "Who got be a coup le mor e I might ride . At Tennessee, it's a GN CC the holesh ot - Lafferty?" he asked. "I went to pa ss him, and a har e scra mb les, so I might be able to get a half- and he took me oul. After that; it was all downh ill. I've dozen of them in without going too far 'west We' ll see got no front brakes. I pull the lever , and it goes all the how it goes. It might be kind ofcool to do hare scrambles way to. the grip. I' ve.go t no rear brake, eit her . I wore it in add ition t o end ures, since a whole lot of peopl e aren't ou t abo u t ha lfway: I was alrea d y crashi ng anyways; . probably go ing to d o it. I d efinitely wan t to do the brakes wo uld n' t have done me any good.". end uro thin g agai n, for KTM and stuff like that. Nobody . else has wo n back-to-b ack titles on KTM, so I just want There will be no number-one or number-two plat es in . to get that under my belt; and .then next year I'm just" this year' s series, as d efendi ng AMA N ati on al Har e go nna concentrate on one thing. I'm kind of involved in .Scrambles C hampion Rodney Smith .an d runner-up everything now bu t concentrating on end uros; next year, .Steve Hatch (along with number four, Pau l Edm ondson) . I'm go nna settl e on one." . . . · are concentrating solely on GNCCs this year. With Team .... .. ... ' . . · Suzuki off-Road out, Husaberg's Jason Dahners i s the Doug Blackw ell is al so plannin g o n a three-series ma n with the lowest number (3), followed by Brian Gar- . assault: GNCCs; hare scrambles and enduros. "The way rahan (5), Pa trick Garrahan (6); Scott Ple ssi nger (7), the schedule's la id ou t, I'm gonnabea .busy man, that' s Aaron Sykes (8), Mike Sampson (9) and Randy Ha wkins for su re," he ad mitted. '1. think by. mid-April, I'll know (10). 15

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